After cornering her to ask her a few more questions before they went down to breakfast the next morning, Albus had kept his distance from her. After breakfast, she headed to Ancient Runes and then to Arithmancy. Noah seemed to have gotten a fairly thorough update from Scorpius, because he expressed sympathy for Albus avoiding her in the same breath as teasing her for spending quite so much time kissing his cousin lately.

Rose was dreading heading down Care of Magical Creatures - she usually sat with Natalia and Albus. Thankfully, Colleen, who seemed to have noticed the tension between her and Albus, caught up with her just as she was leaving the castle. They sat with Natalia and Daniel, which kept Rose from dwelling too much on Albus's disappointment.

Scorpius's scowl when he got to Care of Magical Creatures a few minutes after she did told her that Albus had probably chewed him out at some point during the free periods they'd had that morning. On the bright side, she felt a little less alone in her misery, but on the downside, she had a feeling he was going to want some answers from her - she'd definitely made it worse.

When class let out, Albus headed back to the castle with Alex and Holly without so much as glancing at her. She considered following them, but the idea of sitting there while Albus ignored her wasn't exactly her idea of fun. Instead, she beat a hasty retreat while Scorpius and Damien were packing up and headed up to the library, feeling morose every step of the way.

Scorpius found her there, and this time, he wasn't looking for kisses.

"What exactly did you tell Al last night?"

Rose winced and tore her attention away from the books on dangerous creatures. "Oh. That."

Scorpius raised his eyebrows. "Yes. That. He informed me today that he was very annoyed with both of us. He didn't seem that annoyed when I talked to him last night, so you must have said something."

She sighed and stepped back a few paces to slump against the wall. "In my defense, I was really flustered." He continued to look at her, and she wrinkled her nose. "Let's not talk about it. Do you want to snog instead?"

She wasn't sure if it was a mark of self-control or simple irritation that made him ignore the offer, but ignore it he did. "You got me into hot water with my best friend. Tell me what you said, then we can kiss."

"One or the other," she said quickly, and he crossed his arms. "Oh, fine. Have it your way." She knew that he wasn't going to like this, though she thought it was worth noting that he'd started it by talking to Albus in the first place.

She decided not to point that out. Albus really had needed to be told something at some point, and she knew she'd been putting it off longer than she should have.

"I might have mentioned you kissing me in the hospital wing," she said. Scorpius made a face. "And when he cornered me first thing this morning, I might have let it slip that I'd caught you looking down my shirt."

That caught his attention. His eyebrows shot up and his jaw actually dropped open. "You - what on earth possessed you to tell him that?"

"I was flustered," she repeated. "And not all of us have lots of practice at lying."

Scorpius ignored the jab at his house - which was just as well, because Rose did have plenty of experience with lying to almost everyone - and rubbed his forehead. "God, Rose, that is the worst possible thing you could have said. Why do you think I've sanitized the hell out of every discussion I've had with him about you?"

"I also told him that I'd caught you out at it when we were looking at the map during lunch that day," she muttered. She wasn't about to admit it to Scorpius, but she was feeling exceedingly unhappy with how she'd handled Albus cornering her that morning.

Scorpius groaned and put his head in his hands. "All right, no, that was the worst possible thing you could have said."

Rose grimaced. "I know. Sorry." She slid down the wall to sit on the floor. "I was flustered," she said for what felt like the tenth time. After a minute, Scorpius followed her down the aisle and made to sit next to her. She moved over a little, and he slid into the area she'd vacated.

"In the future, please don't tell your cousin things like that," he said. "It's just going to get him pissed off."

"Well, you were looking down my shirt," she pointed out fairly, and when she looked at him, his face was a little flushed again. "Admit it."

He heaved a sigh. "Fine. Yes, I was. In my defense, you were leaning over that map thing right in front of me. It was a little hard not to look, even if I didn't particularly want to, and I did want to." She elbowed him. "Hey, I've never claimed to be a saint. So, how about finding another corridor?"

She elbowed him. When he threw his head back to laugh, she found herself admiring his profile and his jaw line. The jinx had begun to fade in earnest now; his hair was more strawberry blond than orange at this point, which suited him much better. At this point, Rose couldn't remember why she'd never liked blonds.

She put her hand on his cheek. "Hey, Scorpius." He turned toward her, still smiling broadly, and she pressed her lips against his.

Rose felt a lurch in her stomach as he leaned toward her and opened his mouth. She also had the sudden impression that she was getting in way over her head.

She also knew that right now, she couldn't be bothered to care.

When they parted, she grinned. "Do I still drive you insane?"

His eyes narrowed slightly, and a moment too late, Rose remembered where she'd heard him use those words. For a minute, she was afraid he was going to call her out on it, but after a minute, he just said, "In a different way," and leaned in for another kiss.

Things with Albus didn't improve that evening, though in fairness between Quidditch practice and patrolling the halls with Noah, Rose didn't have much time to talk to him even if they'd been inclined to talk.

When Rose got to Potions the following morning, she found that Colleen had saved her a seat, and when the Gryffindors headed for Transfiguration after they left the dungeons, the other girl stuck to her side like a bur. Rose was grateful for that - fighting with Albus always left her feeling miserable on its face and reminded her that she really didn't have as many close friendships outside her family at Hogwarts as he did, which at times like this could be a problem.

Scorpius was sitting with Noah and Claire, which made Rose feel a faint twinge of jealousy and a new wave of gratitude for Colleen - there was no way she could have joined those three even if she'd wanted to, and she wasn't sure she wanted to in the first place, not with the Slytherin girl with them.

Alex stopped her as she and Colleen headed for the door after class had been dismissed. "Hey, Rose," he said, looking a little embarrassed.

Scorpius was halfway out the door, but when he heard Alex's voice, he stopped dead, causing Claire to walk into him. She followed Scorpius's gaze, let out a disgusted snort, and shoved past him.

"Hey, Alex," Rose replied, wishing she was somewhere else.

"It's fine if you don't want to," he started, speaking rather quickly, "but I was wondering if you'd go out with me. At some other Hogsmeade weekend. Or something." He paused and then added, "I know you said no, it's just that I'm not really sure you got that I was - you know - asking you out. It's totally fine if you don't want to. I just thought I'd - er - ask one more time."

Now Damien was nudging Scorpius, who was still blocking the doorway. He was ignoring his friend completely and continuing to stare at Rose and Alex. She could tell that he was feeling both jealous and a little insecure, and found herself feeling perversely glad about it. At least she wasn't the only one feeling that way.

"You're right, I hadn't really. I'm sorry. I was really distracted that day."

His teeth flashed in a strong contrast to his dark skin, which he and his sister had inherited from their mother, who worked in the Auror office with Rose's father and uncle. Alex seemed to be breathing easier now that he'd established that she wasn't about to laugh at him. "It's no problem, really. It was actually kind of funny."

"Personally, once I figured it out, I was more embarrassed than amused, but… I'm sorry, Alex, but I'm just not…"

He shook his head quickly. "It's no problem. Really." She smiled at him tentatively, and he grinned again. It seemed genuine. "I'm… going to go somewhere else now. Otherwise it's going to get awkward."

That got a laugh out of her. "Probably."

Scorpius finally responded to Damien's nudging and allowed himself to be pushed out the door, though not without another glance at Rose. She had her own problems, though: Colleen was looking very intrigued. "Why does Scorpius Malfoy look so relieved?" she asked.

"Probably because I said no, since he fancies me." She kept her voice quiet enough that it couldn't be overheard - this still wasn't something she wanted all over the school, not yet.

"But he's always complaining how obnoxious and full of yourself you are," Colleen replied, matching her volume.

"That, too."

The other girl. considered that. "Actually, now that I think about it, that makes sense. Oooh, is that who you've been primping so much lately?"

Rose felt her face get hot. "A bit," she admitted.

Colleen stretched her arms above her head and arched her back. "He's quite good-looking, isn't he?"

"He's a really good kisser, too," Rose said without thinking.

"Oh?" The interest on her friend's face grew. "When did you find that out?"

"This week." Rose said. "Er - like, really good."

Now she'd done it. While Colleen was keeping her voice down, Rose had no doubt that she was about to be subjected to quizzing all the way to Herbology. She was surprised to find that she didn't much mind it - part of her wanted to get a little silly about Scorpius, and the other girl was quite happy to encourage it.

When she climbed into the portrait hole before dinner, she scanned the Common Room. James was nowhere to be found, but she saw Roxanne and Albus sitting next to one of the windows.

Deciding that intruding on the space that Albus so obviously wanted would not be the best thing for either of them just then, she started toward a group of their yearmates. After a moment, however, she remembered the conversation she'd had with Alex earlier that day and drew up again.

She was about to give up on the Common Room altogether and go up to her dormitory – where, thankfully, the boys in her life who were giving her a headache would not be able to follow her – when Roxanne spotted her and waved her over.

Albus glanced over his shoulder and stiffened a little when he saw her, but Roxanne either didn't notice or decided that she didn't care. "Rosie!" she called. "Come over, I want to ask you something!"

Rose wavered a little, but decided that ignoring Roxanne was likely to do her more harm than good, especially considering that Roxanne could really be quite supportive when she wanted to be. She headed over, and as she neared the table, Albus pushed his chair back.

"I'll see you later," he said, smiling tightly at them both.

"Oh, come on, Albie," Roxanne said as he made his way across the crowded common room toward the stairs that led to the boys dormitory. "Don't be like that."

He waved before ascending to his dormitory, and Rose sighed as she slid into the seat he'd just vacated. "I could have told you that would happen," she muttered.

Roxanne shook her head. "He needs to learn how to take things less seriously."

Privately, Rose agreed, though she could understand why Albus was a little annoyed with her. "So what did you want?"

"Oh." Roxanne cast a quick eye at the second-years sitting nearby, but they did not seem to be paying attention. She lowered her voice anyway. "Want to go into the village with me tomorrow morning? I got the cloak from James."

Rose frowned at the implication. It was very unusual for their cousin to miss a chance to visit Fred. "I have class, but what about James?" Roxanne made a face, and Rose looked around the common room. He didn't appear to be present, though she supposed that she could just be missing him among in the crowd. Unlike most of their family, he did not have red hair, which made him significantly more difficult to spot. "Where is he?"

"Off with Marion," Roxanne said dismissively. "Apparently he fancies her, and decided he'd rather try his luck at convincing her to snog him than visit Hogsmeade. Bloody idiot."

Rose wasn't sure if Dominique, who had left a trail of broken hearts behind her during her time at Hogwarts, was rubbing off on Roxanne or if Roxanne was just annoyed that James was not putting rule breaking above all other things.

"Oh." Rose absorbed this information. "That's… huh." Suddenly, James's casual questions about Marion's presence and his occasional sideways glances made perfect sense. "Does she like him?"

Roxanne shrugged. "Last I heard, he was too much of a daredevil for her, but maybe he'll win her over." She glanced out the window at the sun, which was beginning to set. "So, how about you and Malfoy?"

Rose groaned. Roxanne's opinion wasn't anywhere near as charitable as Colleen's, but Rose didn't really see a way out of this - and she supposed that she did have to face the music sometime.

After dinner, though, Rose was feeling so self-conscious about what had turned out to be pretty extensive teasing from Roxanne that she decided to head back to the library. Thankfully, it was nearly empty. After grabbing the book she'd forgotten at lunch, Rose scanned the tables and saw Noah sitting at the same table he'd been at when she'd eavesdropped on him and Scorpius.

"Hey," she said as she slid into one of the chairs.

"Hey." He jerked his head toward her bag. "You too?"

Rose made a face as she pulled her hair back in preparation for a long evening of leaning over books with too-small print. "I meant to get some work done yesterday, but I got… distracted."

She saw the hint of a smile spread across Noah's face, and she felt her face flush. "I heard," he said.

"Albus isn't meeting you here, right?" she asked, changing the subject and darting another glance around the room.

"Nope." He interpreted her second glance around the room correctly. "Scorpius isn't here, either. I think our cousin Evy roped him into helping her out with something." He shook his head. "I wish McGonagall hadn't made her Head Girl. She's become a huge pain."

Rose relaxed. "Oh, good. I don't have the energy to deal with Al's silent treatment, and Scorpius is - um…" She trailed off as Noah began to rummage in his bag for something, but just as she was starting to scan the table of contents of her book, he spoke again.

"Yeah, Scorpius definitely is, all right." He tapped his quill on the table for a minute, looking like he was considering his next words very carefully. "Look," he said, after an awkward pause. "My cousin doesn't always have as much sense as he thinks he does. I like you, but I really hope he knows what he's doing and that you aren't just messing him around."

Rose bristled. "I'm not," she snapped. Her voice came out a little louder than she'd meant it to, and the small group of sixth-years sitting next to the Potions books turned around and glared at her. "I'm not," she repeated, keeping her voice softer this time.

Noah studied her for a minute, and then looked back at his book. "He really is a decent person," he said without looking up again. "Even if he picks fights with you for no reason. Just… don't lead him on, okay? He's already hung up enough on you."

"Why?"

"I have absolutely no idea." Noah made a face at her. "Look, it's none of my business, really - I just don't want my idiot cousin to get hurt." They worked in silence for a time, and just as Rose was closing her Ancient Runes book, Noah said, "You know, I still don't get it. What changed to make you start snogging him?"

She said the first thing that popped into her head. "He has a good profile."

Noah snorted. "Yeah, okay. That's it." He picked up his quill again. "Have it your way. I was just curious."

A/N: As always, guys, I'd love to know what you think about this chapter (especially since it's been pulled together from multiple chapters/added to for this rewrite). If you have the time to leave a review, that would be wonderful. Either way, thank you so much for reading!

- Branwen